Vidiots to close

After 30 years of operation, eclectic Santa Monica video cassette and DVD rental store Vidiots is going out of business.

Opened by friends Patty Polinger and Cathy Tauber in 1985, Vidiots had managed to survive the transition of home entertainment from VCR to DVD to web streaming services such as Netflix, until now.

Despite a slew of different revenue strategies and various fundraisers (including last Thursday’s conversation with “Nightcrawler” filmmaker Dan Gilroy and star Rene Russo) Tauber and Polinger have decided to close the shop.

April 15 marks the last day of operation, with a closing event currently being planned for late March.

‘We wanted to create a business where we could meet interesting people we like,” Tauber said Monday morning.“I didn’t come from any movie background. It’s been an education itself.”